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WJC Head Takes on Hungary and Latin America in Bold Statement

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“Cécile Tormay was not only one of Miklós Horthy’s favorite writers. She was also a notorious anti-Semite,” says World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder.
“Cécile Tormay was not only one of Miklós Horthy’s favorite writers. She was also a notorious anti-Semite,” says World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder.
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder issued two statements on Thursday, May 30, calling for Hungary to change its decision to name a Budapest street after an anti-Semitic writer, and for Latin American nations to grow more mindful of Iranian terrorism.

In Hungary, Budapest’s city government is specifically planning to name a street in the Hungarian capital after the nationalist writer Cécile Tormay (1876-1937), who was openly anti-Semitic.

“This decision by the Budapest city government, which is headed by a member of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, puts into question the pledge given to the Jewish community that anti-Semitism will be fought vigorously by the Hungarian authorities,” Lauder said. “However, it seems that they need to be reminded that Cécile Tormay was not only one of Miklós Horthy’s favorite writers. She was also a notorious anti-Semite.”

During the Horthy era from 1920 to 1944, several anti-Jewish laws were passed, Hungary became an ally of Nazi Germany and the deportations of Hungarian Jews to the Nazi death camps began. Cécile Tormay’s book An Outlaw’s Diary, published in 1921, is full of anti-Semitic stereotypes and blames the Jews for the crimes committed during the Hungarian revolution of 1919.

“Earlier this month, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly in Budapest that anti-Semitism is ‘unacceptable and intolerable’ and that ‘history taught the Hungarians that anti-Semitism must be recognized in time,’” Lauder further asserted. “Let’s hope that the authorities in Budapest realize that it was the political and intellectual climate and the open anti-Semitism of Horthy and his disciples, such as Cécile Tormay, that preceded the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews to the Nazi death camps.

“We urge Prime Minister Orbán to speak with the mayor of Budapest, who is a member of his party, and to persuade him to withdraw the plan for the naming of a street after Cécile Tormay,” he concluded.

In Buenos Aires, the WJC called on Latin American nations to take the Iranian threat more seriously and to take energetic measures to stop the infiltration of Iranian agents in their respective countries. This announcement followed the presentation of a 500-page indictment to a federal Argentinean judge on Wednesday, in which Argentinean prosecutor Alberto Nisman accused Iran of infiltrating several South American countries for the purpose of installing intelligence stations that are destined to commit, encourage and sponsor terror attacks like the one that took place against the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires in July 1994.

In his report, Nisman also offered corroborating evidence implicating the highest authorities of Iran in the AMIA bombing. Mohsen Rabbani, a former Iranian cultural attaché in Buenos Aires, not only orchestrated that bombing, but also acted as a coordinator of the Iranian infiltration in South America, the indictment says.

“Mr. Nisman’s detailed indictment proves once again that despite its repeated denials, the regime in Tehran is engaged in terrorist activities,” Lauder proclaimed. “Given the strong evidence that is contained in Mr. Nisman’s report, including further proof that Iranian officials masterminded the 1994 AMIA center bombing, we once again urge the Argentinean government to rescind the memorandum of understanding concluded earlier this year. It is inconceivable that those who perpetrated heinous crimes against civilians and who continue to prepare acts of terrorism against people in Latin America oversee the legal investigation into these crimes. It is just like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse,” he added.

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